Obama’s father was never a US citizen, nor was he ever permanently domiciled in the US. At birth, Obama was a British citizen. [He's also been a Kenyan citizen and perhaps a citizen of Indonesia as well.] Obama admits his birth status was governed by Great Britain.
The question presented then is whether the US is willing to allow persons who were born without sole allegiance to the US to be Commander in Chief of our military.
For it is this specific fear that prompted our first Supreme Court Chief Justice – John Jay – to suggest to George Washington the following:
Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.
This letter was written on July 25, 1787. It is in direct response to Alexander Hamilton’s suggested Presidential requirement appearing in the first draft of the Constitution wherein Hamilton – five weeks earlier – on June 18, 1787 submitted the following:
No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States.
There you have the crux of the issue now before the nation. Hamilton’s original drafted presidential requirement was rejected by the framers. Instead of allowing any person born a citizen to be President, the framers chose to adopt the more stringent requirement from John Jay, that the President be a natural born citizen.
Contrary to media lies, you will find not one single statute in current US law which uses the words “natural born citizen” in code provisions which grant citizenship. For no statute can make one a natural born citizen. It’s a status, not a right. And that status is necessary for only one purpose under the sun – to be Commander In Chief of the US armed forces.
Any citizen can hold any office in the entire Government of the United States except for Commander In Chief. And for good reason, as John Jay made clear all those years ago. This doesn’t mean that immigrants from all nations can’t one day be President. They can. But they need to have two generations of US citizenship to do that – not one.
If we decide to ignore the natural born citizen provision, we open the door to the possibility of a person with strong ties to foreign nations – possibly stronger than to our own – to be the sole commander of our military men and women who protect us. And they also deserve our protection – AT ALL COSTS – from such a treasonous scenario.
We shouldn’t let our Constitutional guard down for the sake of allowing one very popular man to endanger all future generations. Is it not possible that persons such as Kim Jong Il or Osama Bin Laden might imgregnate a US citizen woman? And if this woman gives birth on US soil the precedent set by Obama would allow that child to be Commander In Chief.
I’m not worried about Obama as President. I’m worried about who comes next because of the precedent he sets. The same fear caused me to challenge McCain on the ballot as well.
This is the issue before the nation - and it’s right from the mouth of John Jay’s more restrictive requirement that it was “wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen.”
The framers wisely provided us with that check.
By weakening the natural born citizen check, we dangerously enlarge the pool of candidates who can be Commander In Chief or our armed forces.
An election for President and Commander in Chief of the Military must strive to be above reproach. Our public institutions must give the public confidence that a presidential candidate has complied with the election process that is prescribed by our Constitution and laws. It is only after a presidential candidate satisfies the rules of such a process that he/she can expect members of the public, regardless of their party affiliations, to give him/her the respect that the Office of President so much deserves.
He's not my president. He's a criminal and a fraud.
ReplyDeleteAs the Wall Street Journal said on July 31: "Some birthers imagine that there is a difference between being a “citizen by birth” or a “native citizen” on the one hand and a “natural born” citizen on the other. “Eccentric” is too kind a word for this notion, which is either daft or dishonest. All three terms are identical in meaning."
ReplyDeleteDual citizenship is a red herring. Supposing Mexico passed a law that said that all the children born in Texas were at the moment of birth also Mexican citizens. Would that law affect the Natural Born Citizen status of those children? Would it really affect the loyalty of the children? Would we allow a Mexican law to make children who normally would be eligible no longer eligible?
Same applies to British law. If you accept that Obama was born in the USA, that means Natural Born. That was the original meaning of Natural Born, which stems from the laws in the Colonies at the time of the Revolution. They were that anyone born in a colony became a Natural Born citizen of the colony and a Natural Born subject of Britain, regardless of the number of parents who were citizens or subjects.
Hence, any child born in Texas is a Natural Born US citizen, and Mexican law or British law cannot take that away.
John Jay, whom you quote, was a lawyer and justice and became the first justice of the US Supreme Court. He was referring to British common law and the law in the colonies at the time of the revolution when he used the term Natural Born. We are SURE that he was familiar with the law and with the meaning under the law that Natural Born meant born in the country.
If he had meant by Natural Born something other than the common meaning at the time, which was born in the country, surely he or some other writer at the time would have said something like: "Natural Born--by which I mean two parents." But he only said Natural Born, and the common meaning at the time was that Natural Born was born in the country regardless of the number of parents.
smrstrauss appears on many blogs presenting the same tired argument in an effort to legitimize Obama's natural born status. I could even give credence to him/her being a shill.
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